Back And Better: Red-Hot Ronaldo On Rampage As Portugal Beat Andorra 6-0

Portugal captain, Cristiano Ronaldo dished out brutal justice on Andorra’s hatchet men by inspiring Portugal to a rout scoring four goals in their 6-0 bashing of the Group B minnows in the ongoing 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers on Friday night.

The Real Madrid forward had missed the opening shock 2-0 defeat by Switzerland due to a knee injury. But Ronaldo was back with a bang by scoring four goals despite Andorra having two players sent off for kicking the Portuguese superstar.

Ronaldo opened his account after 73 seconds, driving the ball home after Andorra failed to clear a corner, and headed home Ricardo Quaresma’s cross in the fourth minute. Jose Fonte was brilliantly denied by Andorra goalkeeper Josep Gomes, Andre Silva hit the bar and Ronaldo was close with another header before Joao Cancelo added Portugal’s third with a mis-hit cross in the 44th minute.

Ronaldo sealed his hat-trick in the 47th minute with a fierce volley from Andre Gomes’ cross. It was the Portugal captain’s fourth hat-trick for his country, taking his tally to 65 goals in 134 internationals.

Andorra midfielder Jordi Rubio was sent off in the 62nd minute after receiving a second booking for a bad foul on Ronaldo. Andorra were then reduced to nine men in the 70th minute after midfielder Marc Rebes was shown a straight red card for kicking Ronaldo. Andre Silva sealed the rout with a deflected cross from close range in the 86th minute.

Ronaldo said: ‘We knew that the first goal would be really important against a team which puts 11 players behind the ball. “I know I am important as are all the other players. I have always given everything for the national team, I feel useful and I’m happy to be back after that injury in the European championship. There are eight games to go and we want to win all eight to go to the World Cup.”

The win got Portugal off the mark in Group B after a shock 2-0 defeat away at Switzerland in their opening game last month when Ronaldo was missing through injury. However, they are still three points behind Switzerland, who won 3-2 in Hungary, and also trail the Faroe Islands, who have four points after winning 2-0 in Latvia.